Deeper shades of green
by 630leosa
Summary: A deeper look into what Tommy Oliver experienced when he first moved to Angel Grove. Follows a slightly altered version of the 'Green with evil' miniseries.


"Ernie's Gym and Juice Bar." Tommy muttered to himself. "At least this town has a gym."

Tommy Oliver was seriously starting to regret coming to Angel Grove.

He still didn't really want to settle down anywhere; he loved the lifestyle of the martial arts circuit too much. He was too used to living out of hotels and moving from place to place, and Angel Grove didn't really live up to its reputation as an exciting and dangerous place to live.

He had to admit that was one of the only reasons he agreed to settle down and focus on school for a while. Ever since Rita Repulsa showed up she only ever seemed to attack around this area, yet everyone thought they were completely safe because of the Power Rangers.

Tommy had always been too curious for his own good, and that - coupled with his need for adventure - meant he couldn't pass up the opportunity to check out the so called 'Monster Capital of the world' when he was given the chance. Hopefully being an adrenaline junkie wouldn't get him in too much trouble in a dangerous place like this.

Unfortunately when there wasn't a monster attack, Angel grove seemed a pretty boring place to him. Sure it had a good mall, decent beach lot of beautiful landmarks, but there was only so long he could stand it before he was bored again.

In the three days Tommy had been there, there hadn't been any monster attacks or any disturbances at all. The only thing he was looking forward to was the upcoming martial arts expo he'd signed up for.

He walked straight up the few steps to the bar to order a soda while he took a look around, placing his duffle bag on the floor beside him.

He'd brought his workout clothes in case he felt like getting in a bit more practice for tomorrow. On the other hand, he knew he only had a few more hours before the shops shut and when he started working out he tended to lose track of time. He still needed time to go food shopping before he went home, but he couldn't walk past a gym without at least checking it out first.

The gym part of the youth centre was very simple, exercise machines were lined up against the wall behind a large area that had been covered in practice mats.

A few kids were making their way towards the mats, talking and messing around. The only person that caught his attention was a boy dressed mostly in red, running through a complicated karate kata while talking with his friends who were sitting at the side.

"I haven't seen you around here before." Tommy turned around to see the man behind the counter giving him a welcoming smile as he placed the glass of soda in front of him. Since he was the only one serving, Tommy guessed that this with probably Ernie.

"No, I'm… new." He finished lamely. It was almost second nature for him to say that he was only here for the tournament; he had to keep reminding himself that he actually lived here now.

"I promise you're gonna fit right in." He smiled. "I'm Ernie by the way."

"Tommy." He returned the smile quickly before taking a sip of soda. "This is the only town I've been to that has a warning pack instead of a welcome pack." He joked. "Haven't had a chance to read through mine yet, though."

"I suggest you read through it tonight. It's been almost a week since the last attack."

"Is that good news or bad news?"

"Who knows, everything's been quiet around here lately. Either the Power Rangers are getting everything under control, or if you ask me. This is just the calm before the storm."

"Whichever it is, I'm sure the Power Rangers can handle it." Tommy nodded, noticing the framed picture of the city's heroes mounted on the wall behind the bar. "Oh hey, speaking of fights" He added, remembering one of the main reasons he'd stopped by. "Isn't there some sort of karate club held here?"

"Jason's in the middle of a junior class right now." He nodded towards the open, matted space behind Tommy.

The guy dressed in red, Jason, was now running through a simpler Kata with a group of about twenty kids, occasionally stopping to correct one of their stances.

Jason… Wasn't that the name of the guy he was meant to be fighting in the expo tomorrow?

Even though the guy was only running though some simple moves, Tommy could tell that he was a fighter, everything about the way he moved and the way he held himself betrayed that he was a martial artist.

Tommy turned around in his seat to watch the junior Karate class. They were instructed to split up into pairs and start practicing the new moves they'd just learnt, while Jason stayed with a small group of students that were struggling to grasp the fairly simple routine.

After about ten minutes Jason called the class back together to lead them through a quick cool down routine.

"Alright guys. We've finished up a bit quicker than I expected so how about a bit of a demonstration?" Jason addressed his class, followed by a chorus of cheers from some of the spectators as well as his pupils.

"Hey, Zack! You up for a little one on one?" He called out toward a group of people that were sat on the side watching.

"Aww yeah, Zackman's back in business." The energetic black teen grinned. There was a mixture of laughter and cheers as he half strutted, half danced over to the mats.

Jason laughed and gave Zack a high five as he approached the class. "Alright class, I want you all to keep a close eye on the match. One of us will concentrate mostly on defence the other on offence. At the end of the match I want you to guess which was which."

There was a general murmur of agreement from the students as Jason and Zack prepared to start the fight.

The fight started off slowly. Both sides were testing each other, giving Tommy the impression that they hadn't yet decided who was taking which role.

Zack was obviously faster, easily avoiding every attack that was thrown at him and seeming to literally bounce back into an attack. But Jason was easily the stronger fighter, apparently unfazed by his partner's boundless energy and fighting with trained precision that was completely harmless to the other teen.

The two friends shared a knowing look as Jason feinted a roundhouse kick and followed through with a series of complicated punches. Somehow Zack managed to either block or dodge every attack that Jason threw at him, literally dancing away from the attacks with what looked like a mixture of martial arts and hip-hop moves.

Without breaking eye contact, Zack glared and switched his stance slightly. It was a subtle change but it instantly changed him from an equal in the fight to the defensive. His brief smirk at Jason's victory betrayed how close their friendship was: both of them took this fight as a friendly challenge, there would be no hard feelings towards the winner.

Jason's stance was open for a brief moment and Zack tried to push his advantage, trading his own defences for what he thought was a striking finishing move.

Tommy smirked quietly to himself, it was an old move, one he'd used a few times himself during competitions. Zack was lulled into a false sense of security by Jason. His eyes widened as he realised his mistake, moments before his back hit the ground.

The youth centre once again broke into cheers and Tommy was surprised to find himself joining in with the applause.

Jason helped Zack to his feet and to two of them shared a friendly one-armed hug before turning back to the class.

"How many of you thought that I was the defensive?" Jason addressed his students. A small group raised their hands. "Alright, and who thought that Zack was the defensive?" Most of the class raised their hands.

Before Jason could continue, Zack placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"And who has no idea which was which?" Zack added with a grin. A few students raised their hands slowly.

"It doesn't matter if you're not sure, the change wasn't that obvious." Jason continued, the few who weren't sure visibly relaxed knowing that they weren't in trouble. "The person who was concentrating mainly on defence was…"

"Hey Jase, hold up a minute." Zack interrupted, crouching down so that he was level with one of the girls in the front row. "What's your name?"

"Sarah." She answered shyly, shrinking back slightly from the older teen.

"Sarah, I didn't see you put your hand up. Do you know who was defensive?"

She shook her head quickly, looked around nervously as if asking for help.

"Do you wanna take a guess?" Jason asked kindly.

Tommy managed to catch her eye and gestured to the right, the side that Zack was stood on.

"Zack?" She asked timidly.

"Zack was on the Defensive." There were a few cheers from the students that had guessed right. "And that about wraps up today's session, any questions, feel free to ask me or Zack any time after this session."

"Did anyone see what mistake I made?" Zack asked the class before they bowed out.

A few hands shot up and Tommy was surprised to see that Sarah's was one of them.

"You underestimated him?" She said after Jason had gestured for her to speak, her slight hesitance making it sound like a question.

"Exactly." Jason grinned. "Never underestimate the power of your opponent. If you're ever in a situation like that with an unknown opponent, always go for defence and try to draw as much attention to yourselves as possible if you can't find a way to escape. Remember violence doesn't solve anything - it should only be used as a last resource. Class dismissed." He nodded and bowed them out just as the first few parents started arriving.

"And remember not to leave the juice bar until your parents come to collect you." Zack reminded them.

Sarah was one of the last to leave, Zack smiled as she walked past him. "See, I knew you could do it, all you needed was a little more confidence."

She smiled and looked back towards Tommy, who had turned back around in his chair to finish his soda.

Zack and Jason had quickly been approached by students and started helping them with some of their basic moves.

Sarah quickly made her way up to Tommy but hesitated as she approached the bar.

He seemed to feel someone behind him more than anything else. Tommy failed to hide his surprised when he turned around and realised who she was.

"Um. I… I just wanted to say thank you." She blushed slightly, nervously playing with one of her long blond plaits.

"No problem." He smiled. "Like they said, you just need a bit more confidence in yourself. I know you would have made the right decision."

"Thanks I… I was just so nervous."

"It's alright, there's nothing wrong with being nervous, I bet even Jason gets nervous."

She nodded, looking like she wanted to say something else but suddenly stopped as she saw her mother appear at the doorway. "I gotta go." She sounded a little sad but still smiled back at Tommy. "Thanks again." And with that she ran off to meet her mother.

"That was a really nice thing you did there." Ernie noted, cleaning up one of the glasses from the bar.

"Yeah? She looked like she needed a break. They shouldn't have put here on the spot like that. They knew she was nervous." Tommy shrugged, drinking the last few drops of his soda. He looked up at the clock and sighed. "Guess I'd better be off too. See you later Ernie." He placed the money for the soda on the counter as he picked up his small duffle bag.

"I thought you wanted to ask Jason about karate classes?" Ernie reminded him.

"It'll have to wait. Besides if he's as good a fighter as he is a teacher then I'm gonna need to practice for tomorrow's expo first." And with that Tommy left the youth centre, excited for tomorrow's competition and wondering if he'd misjudged just what he was getting into by moving into Angel Grove.


End file.
